A Reduced Population Balance Model for Coupled Hydrodynamics and Mass Transfer in Shallow Bubble Column Reactors

01.Jan.2022

​Shallow bubble column reactors are gas-liquid reactors which are intensively used in chemical industries because of their simple design and efficiency. They are characterized by a low height-to-diameter ratio when compared to traditional columns. In such equipment, the bubble size distribution is an important design parameter that defines the interfacial area which plays an important role in designing and scaling-up these reactors. In this contribution a new reduced population balance model is developed based on OPOSPM (One Primary One Secondary Particle Method) framework to predict the coupled bubble hydrodynamics and mass transfer in shallow bubble column reactors. The model is composed of four transport equations where two of which are used to describe the total number and volume bubble concentrations and the other two transport equations are devoted for chemical species balances. Other consecutive equations are used to model the bubble relative velocity, breakage, coalescence, interphase mass transfer, and reconstruction of bubble probability density. The model capability to predict the experimental data for the coupled hydrodynamics and mass transfer in the shallow bubble column reactor ofLau et al. (2012) is successfully demonstrated. In conclusion, the model is simple and still efficient for modelling such reactors with the essential phenomena from the detailed population balance equation (PBE) is captured.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/362390274_A_Reduced_Population_Balance_Model_for_Coupled_Hydrodynamics_and_Mass_Transfer_in_Shallow_Bubble_Column_Reactors​